Tuesday, 1 January 2013

The Next Big Thing Blog Hop

I recently got tagged in a blog hop by my friend, badass and former priestess of Valhalla Wai Chim, so as you punks have been literally mailing me daily asking for updates I thought I'd relent and let you know how it goes. Thanks to Wai for passing this on to me. You rock.

Here's all the legal jargon from on high -

The rules for the blog hop are as follows:

****Give credit to the person/blog that tagged you

**** Post the rules for the blog hop

****Answer these ten questions about your current WIP (Work In Progress) on your blog

****Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.

Ten Interview Questions for The Next Big Thing:

What is the working title of your book?

All right, my next in progress novella is Beat Down 4 - The Sneevla. Wanna know what a Sneevla is? Yeah, I bet you do. Just trust me, it's badass. In fact, it's so badass it's possibly going to end the world unless Russell and crew can get in there and open up some Beat Down in time.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

Basically, I was out in the garden with the cat catching some rays on my chiseled torso when this UFO just appeared out of nowhere. These two green guys got out. They had mohawks, so I was like, "What's up, you punks?" One of them handed me this stone tablet and said, "Michael S., you're the only human we know of who's badass enough to write this story for us." I was touched, as you would be, but when I took a look at their story I saw it was lame. I crushed the stone tablet with my bare hands, shoved those punks back into their flying saucer thing and tossed it back to Mars or wherever the hell it came from. Then I sat down to write something more badass than what they had shown me. That's basically it.

What genre does your book fall under?

It’s comedy with little slices of action, sci-fi and fantasy thrown in there. And romance, I suppose, since Belinda's always trying to get Russell to marry her even though he's more interested in haircare products and stuff.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Dude, that's a difficult question. I'm not sure there's anyone badass enough on earth to play Russell except myself, but I'm not dealing with those Hollywood punks. Maybe Chuck Norris could play Rip, because he's old but cool. For Cap'n Nerv you'd have to find someone who only has one hand and one leg, which could be tricky. Marny is kind of undersized for a 19-year old so you'd probably want to get a hobbit or something. Do they exist? Belinda, well . . . just pick who's the hottest chick currently on the planet. She'd do. Kurt Sniveller and the Sprite Squadron . . . well, I'd just CGI them in. Kind of sucks for some poor actor having to play those bounders.What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Zombies, airships, marshmallows, and classic art = The Sneelva.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I get bombarded daily by publishers demanding to get their hands on Beat Down!, but I'm keeping it underground for now. Keeping it real. I don't want some punk saying, "Hey, Michael, we really don't want marshmallows in this scene", because then I'd have to break a rock over his head and I don't really advocate violence unless someone's being a bounder and needs a good Beat Down!.How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

14 seconds. Seriously. People always doubt me on this but it's true. The rest of the time I'm too busy opening fanmail. That's why I only write novellas. I don't have time to write full length novels.What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Beat Down 1, 2, and 3. That's it. There's nothing out there that's anywhere near as good.

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

The fans. Definitely the fans. Every day I get this mailbox full of letters and I'm like, "Guys, can you not use email? We've got trees to save." Therefore I set out with Beat Down! not only to entertain the hell out of them but to teach them a thing or two about the environment. Russell is, of course, a warrior for green energy. A lot of people forget that because he's always busy kicking Kurt Sniveller's butt but a central thread of the Beat Down! series is protecting the environment.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

It’s awesome, simple as that. Don’t listen to me, just read it and tell me I'm wrong, which you won't because I'm not. $1.49 per episode. That's like the bargain to end all bargains.